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The machine did not make an error about the brother. The old man orchestrated that. He also created Vigilance but did not build Samaritan. He stole it.

Yes, I had asked before seeing the finale.

I'm trying to think where this show is going next. Samaritan seems like a 1.0 version of an app, whereas Finch's machine is up around v6. And it's unclear just how much AI is actually there, they haven't really demonstrated any at all. Again, unlike Finch's. It's just going to start creating more terrorists with errors about individuals.

What a piece of work is your machine, Harold. In action, how like an angel. In apprehension, how like a god. In 20 years time, life on Earth will come to resemble the myths of the Ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over using human agents to meddle in our affairs. Or they may simply destroy us all.
...
gods are not easily born. In order to bring mine into being, I needed a devil.
...
I'm glad that you've lived long enough to see the dawn of the new world you created, Harold, but the time has come for your god and mine to do battle, and regrettably, our paths diverge here.

*************************************
This is where I'd speculated last fall that the series would be headed. Glad to see it so. Should be epic. Ragnarok!

Hersh was shot multiple times and was at the Post Office courthouse explosion unlike Fusco who was not there. Surviving that blast would be incredible. But maybe they're stealing the idea of the unkillable Helena from Orphan Black.

He was probably wearing a vest. And he may have gotten out before the blast. Someone pulling him out of there on the Machine's instructions.

It had significance because as they showed Hersh's autopsy Root's voice over was saying that many would be killed including those who would have been helpful fighting Decima/Samaritan, for example Hersh.

I'll miss him but he had to go. Had he lived he looked as if he was developing the hots for Shaw. She would have sapped him of his bodily essences and dispatched him black widow style.

I'm not sure where the show goes unless they're planning to have a fairly dramatic shift in the current situation (like the machines become friends, or the Samaritan turns on Decima, etc) within the first few episodes of the next season. Clearly Harold, John, Shaw, etc can't be accepting phone calls from the machine with a number and do what they've done in the previous 3 seasons or Samaritan would no doubt notice them. Any contact between them or meetings would also attract attention. Further, I don't know how the two AI's can do battle. The gov't isn't listening to Harold's machine and it seems like short of Root, no one outside the gov't is going to be listening either.

Also, wasn't there a rather large disconnect this season in how the machine notified the gov't of problem people. This season they made it pretty clear that it gave relevant numbers to the gov't in a similar way to how the machine gave numbers to Harold. In the previous seasons they made it seem like the machine made small changes to reports and databases in gov't so no one would know about the machine or where the intel was coming from. I recall there was an episode where Harold and John had some interaction with an intelligence analyst was trying to figure out who changed one of his reports to insert information that led to some gov't action since he didn't put that information in the report.

I do not expect next season to be dominated by The Gang rescuing potential victims via SSNs as previously. The HR subplot is history. The show has evolved. The Machine is evolving. Fast. There is untapped story potential in an AI "war" with associated analog interfaces and surrogates. Like other seasons, I still expect a comedy centric episode or so and a couple poignant rescues of the hapless.

I predict that Samaritan will interfere with Harold and company to the extent that Northern Lights will decide to take it out. It *IS* programmed with imperatives that it is compelled to fulfill. If Samaritan gets in the way, it will have to go.

Root definitely suggested that the machine had been directing them to kill the congressman. That was a surprise. I assumed that the "kill order" was a mistaken impression. I guess I was wrong.

Luke

Evil is charming and beautiful. It makes you doubt yourself. It asks for one small compromise after another until it whittles you down, and it functions best when no one believes in it.-JOA

Great season finale. This is by far the best show on network tv. Nothing even close to it.

Hirsch has to be dead. I don't think the writers would make us stretch our belief that far that somehow he lived.

Very interested to see where the show goes next season. I was wondering if they were going to kill off Root since Amy Acker is scheduled to be on agents of shield next season too. I was glad they did not because I do find her and her character interesting.

Would be an interesting turn if, say, Samaritan starts targeting erratically and rather than investigating their own victims or perpetrators, the Machine has them begin to investigate Samaritan's. I don't know... Just a brainstorm thinking about how they might carry on the paradigm, but under the current storyline.

Quote:

Originally Posted by philw1776

What a piece of work is your machine, Harold. In action, how like an angel. In apprehension, how like a god. In 20 years time, life on Earth will come to resemble the myths of the Ancient Greeks. A pantheon of super intelligent beings will watch over using human agents to meddle in our affairs. Or they may simply destroy us all.
...
gods are not easily born. In order to bring mine into being, I needed a devil.
...
I'm glad that you've lived long enough to see the dawn of the new world you created, Harold, but the time has come for your god and mine to do battle, and regrettably, our paths diverge here.

Wow that has a certain greater elegance in the reading than the listening. I don't think I even recall this monologue, though I remember the moment it would have taken place.

Since the Machine is getting the same feeds as Samaritan but also with the capability of manipulating data (Reese's booking on the flight, etc), I wonder if what happens if the Machine starts feeding invalid data to Samaritan. Could the Machine force Samaritan to go crazy?

Won't Samaritan be able to find Harold's machine though? I presume it could datamine power records and warehouse space and the like to track it to where they can send in Decima goons to attempt to shut it down.

Won't Samaritan be able to find Harold's machine though? I presume it could datamine power records and warehouse space and the like to track it to where they can send in Decima goons to attempt to shut it down.

Might happen. Harold's machine (aka "Northern Lights") is probably only in one data center. Samaritan is housed in about 100 data centers all over the planet (as Root has explained). On the other hand, it could be that "The Machine" is no longer tied to one data center and is distributed throughout the world via software on many different computers. Your own computer at home or in your place of business might be part of it.

Might happen. Harold's machine (aka "Northern Lights") is probably only in one data center. Samaritan is housed in about 100 data centers all over the planet (as Root has explained). On the other hand, it could be that "The Machine" is no longer tied to one data center and is distributed throughout the world via software on many different computers. Your own computer at home or in your place of business might be part of it.

Next time your PC crashes and puts out all those geeky #s, write them down and go out and save those to whom those Soc Sec #s correspond.

I think that both AIs are distributed. It's the safest most resilient to "death" or geting turned off (same thing) strategy

Jonathan Nolan: Because next season we explore the issue of a virus in the real world infecting an AI in the virtual world, which is toxoplasmosis. The extent of cat videos on the internet is our best hope of defeating Samaritan. [It becomes] completely obsessed with cat videos — and then we put it out of its misery when we get a chance.

In my mind Hersh isn't dead until I see a body. I saw no body. How many times has he been "killed" and come back. He's a Terminator man! LOL

Fantastic finale and fantastic season. One of my top 3 shows on TV for sure. Scary thing is how real it all probably is. I remember early on in this thread in the first season many of us were saying this is all real and we got panned for being tin foil hat lovers, my how things change when people realize they can't trust their government. :)